Soldier dies in Spain’s Aragon wildfire

MADRID - A Spanish soldier died on Aug 16 while helping with efforts to extinguish a major wildfire in Aragon, the northeastern region’s leader said, with local media reporting his truck had overturned.

“I have conveyed my heartfelt condolences to the lieutenant general of the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) for the death of a soldier in the Penas de Riglos fire,” Jorge Azcon said on X.

“All my love and support for his family, his colleagues and the whole UME at this time of deep pain,” Azcon said.

Like its European neighbours, Spain has suffered several spells of extreme summer heat, contributing to ideal conditions for a string of wildfires.

Scientists say climate change, driven by humanity’s burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the length, frequency and intensity of such extreme weather.

The regional government had announced the largest firefighting deployment in Aragon’s history, including French reinforcements, to tame the blaze that broke out on Aug 10.

The flames have come close to the two monasteries of San Juan de la Pena, which are perched in mountainous, rugged terrain and are a symbol of the region.

The oldest monastery, linked by legend to the Holy Grail, has origins in the 10th century and contains the remains of the first kings of the medieval kingdom of Aragon, which were rescued on Aug 13.

A complicated week marked by unpredictable winds and high temperatures saw the flames spread across 16,600 hectares and prompted the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from surrounding villages.

‘Optimism and caution’

The regional government reported “a night of positive work” on Aug 16 as firefighters “managed to consolidate a large part of the perimeter”.

They would be reinforced with the arrival of 100 French firefighters and the participation of between 35 and 40 aircraft, it added in a statement.

Existing reinforcements from the army and other parts of Spain would take the total to 1,000 firefighters, which Azcon said was “the largest deployment of resources against a fire in Aragon’s history”.

“We’re facing the day with optimism, but also with total caution,” he wrote on X.

In the southern region of Andalusia, authorities allowed more than 400 evacuees to return home after a wildfire that has raged for 10 days and affected more than 25,000 hectares was declared under control on Aug 16.

The authorities have said the number of affected hectares straddling the provinces of Huelva and Sevilla only alludes to the perimeter of the fire and does not mean the entire area has been burned.

Andalusia’s leader Juanma Moreno said it was “probable that the burned area is smaller than what we were estimating at the start”, pending satellite analysis.

In late July, a wildfire just dozens of kilometres west of Madrid became the largest in Spain’s recent history and triggered a national emergency. AFP